Archive for the 'Roman Catholic' Category

Call to INaction: Boycott the Nov. 22nd-23rd Collection for CHD

Don’t put anything in this weekend’s envelope for CHD. Some people are putting acorns in, ‘though I don’t see that that would affect anything.

Here’s why:

CCHD BOYCOTT: Catholic Citizens of Illinois calls on all Catholics to boycott the annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development on the weekend of November 22 and 23

Catholics probe aid directed to ACORN

Catholic bishops cut all funding to ACORN

If you need help connecting the dots, click here: Fr. Neuhaus on “Obama and the Bishops”.

or here: Too close for comfort: CCHD, sex and abortion

Bishop discusses reasons behind cutoff of ACORN funding

If you need more background information, here’s my October post about this.

Why we still need to boycott the CHD collection this weekend despite the statements from the bishops: NOT ALL parishes are aware of the problem or choose to be obedient. Hence if you put anything in that CHD envelope, you won’t have any control over whether that money still makes it to ACORN or not.

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Vote for American Papist

Thomas Peters is in the running for a scholarship — so if you’ve enjoyed his posts as much as my family and I have, please vote for him.

American Papist

I think he’s a great role model for our kids, and it would be awesome for us Catholic homeschooling moms to show him our support!

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Ora et Labora: The Work Part

Praying is only the first step. Now we focus on what needs to be done. For starters

Sign the Petition to Fight FOCA. If you don’t understand what FOCA is, see the sidebar, which I’m copying here:

FOCA Would Wipe Away Every Restriction on Abortion Nationwide
This would eradicate state and federal laws that the majority of Americans support, such as:

  • Bans on Partial Birth Abortion
  • Requirements that women be given information about the risks of getting an abortion
  • Only licensed physicians can perform abortions
  • Parents must be informed and give consent to their minor daughter’s abortion

FOCA would erase these laws and prevent states from enacting similar protective measures in the future.

Fight FOCA is also on Facebook. I promised myself I would be giving up Facebook after the election. I am now reneging on that promise because like many of you I realize that we have done too little, too late, to protect the unborn.

Today is Monthly Call for Life Day. We are called to go to an abortion mill today and pray. You can find a listing by state here, including the names of the centers and the parishes matched with each one. To find the abortion mill matched to your parish: “click on the name of your state. You will see the names of the abortion mills in that state, with a grouping of parishes listed under each one. Use the Search and Find function on your computer to locate, on that page, the name of your parish. (Note: If your parish is in the diocese of Steubenville, OH, you need to click on Pennsylvania, since you have been matched with abortion mills in the Pittsburgh area.)”

Join also Priests for Life on Facebookto find out about other projects in which you can participate.

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Time To Move Forward

Ora et labora. Pray and work. And so we begin.

Lepanto 2008 is still taking pledges for Rosaries to be said these next four years. We’re almost halfway to the goal of 30,000,000 rosaries pledged. Please sign up today. One of the clearest messages this election left me and my family is that we, as individuals, as a family, as a nation, HAVE NOT PRAYED ENOUGH.

A day before my consecration last year, dh stepped up and told all of us that we are to begin praying the Rosary everyday. Since then, we have, missing 3 days in the past year. But we can do so much more. To help out, I’ve gotten ourselves and a few friends booklets and pamphlets from Rosary Center. Kathryn also has a wonderful set of Rosary Three Part Cards at her blog. We’ve printed these out on cardstock and keep it on our altar, making it really easy for our little one (6 yo) to memorize the Mysteries. We take turns leading the Rosary. I.e., the person leading the Rosary says the Mysteries and leads the prayers for the first Mystery. The next child (older) leads the next Mystery, and so on. Since there are 6 of us, including parents, on any given day, one family member leads and another takes a break from leading. It takes discipline and a commitment, and yes, there have been evenings when we started saying the Rosary too late in the evening and everyone’s cranky and not really cooperating. Our best Rosaries are said early (before dinner) or in the car when we’re driving someplace.

Here’s another Scriptural Rosary for children that may be helpful.

Also, please consider participating in the Inauguration Day Rosary Novena. It begins November 10 and ends on January 20, Inauguration Day. The specific intentions are on the temporary website, and I’m copying them here as well for your use:

  • For the triumph of the Culture of Life in the United States of America.
  • For President-elect Obama, and for all of the leaders of the United States of America, that they will be led personally to Jesus Christ and His truth, and that they will lead our country in a positive direction. Or in other words, as Archbishop Wuerl said, “That our nation’s new leaders be guided in their decisions with wisdom and compassion and at the heart of all of their decisions may there be a deep respect for and commitment to the sanctity and dignity of all human life and support for the most vulnerable among us.”
  • For the hearts, minds and SOULS of the American people, that they will be turned back towards Jesus Christ and the “least of His brethren”.
  • For a renewal of the virtues of purity and self-control, especially among our youth.
  • In reparation for the scourges of abortion, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, euthanasia, cloning, artificial contraception, and all manifestations of the Culture of Death, and especially in reparation for the support and/or complacency that we as American Catholics have shown to these evils.

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Indeed, How Would We Know?

I’m sure this is a time when America is asking itself a lot of questions. I hope we have time to ask at least just one more.

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Light in the Darkness: Prop. 8 Passes

California voters approve constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, opponents refuse to concede defeat

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“I don’t understand, but I will hope”

I have no words of my own, as my heart is still too full to speak, but I echo Jennifer’s:

So I don’t understand, but I will hope right along with you. I will have faith, the same faith I’ve always had, not a new one brought about by this one human man. I will teach my children to pray. I will teach my children to cherish and protect the newest of lives and those that are not so new, but just as precious. I will teach them to conserve, starting with our own backyard and our own consumption. I will educate my children. I will teach them to love one another [snip]. My family and I will financially support those in the world who live in poverty, just as we always have.

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Lord, Have Mercy On Us

It’s all over. My 17yo was in tears. I must admit that I’m dreading the next 4 years.

BUT. God is still God. And He knows best. And He never said life was going to be a bed of roses. But oh my Lord, the sweet babies…

This Catholic mom is weeping and praying tonight.

Signing off for a while…

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Election Day! On Pins and Needles

I’m sitting here anticipating the results. Praying, hoping, worrying a bit, yes, reading a bit, hugging my kids close… voted yesterday, was in line for 1 1/2 hours, not bad at all — I had taken my 17-yo with me so we had much to chat about while in line. And just for a touch of the shallow, I really think the touch screens are sooo cool. In the small town we lived in in PA, we pushed buttons and pulled this giant lever to register our votes and reset the buttons. That was cool in its own way.

How was YOUR voting experience? What are your thoughts? Care to share?

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Argh… More Sad Stuff

Man, could I use some cheery news soon! Or maybe I’ll have to make do with a cup of Iced Decaf Cafe Mocha from Caribou.

The Issue That Wasn’t

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Catechism and “Catholic” Voters

More than anything this election, this is what truly saddens me.

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Before You Vote #14: John Glenn Speaks

passing along from an e-list:

John Glenn (DEMOCRAT) said this —– It should make us all think a little:

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq in January. In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January. That’s just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war-torn country of Iraq

When some claim that President Bush shouldn’t have started this war, tell them the following :

FDR (DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us; Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost … an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman (DEMOCRAT) finished that war and started one in Korea. North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost … an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.

Johnson (DEMOCRAT) turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost … an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton (DEMOCRAT) went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent. Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden’s head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

This one is a fact that makes me mad as hell.

In the years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.

But wait, There’s more.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno (DEMOCRAT) to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation ..

We’ve been looking for evidence for chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton (DEMOCRAT) to find the Rose law firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida !!!

Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB! The Military morale is high!
The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

But wait …There’s more!

JOHN GLENN (on the Senate floor - January 26, 2004)

Some people still don’t understand why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange between Senators John Glenn and Senator Howard Metzenbaum is worth reading. Not only is it a pretty impressive impromptu speech, but it’s also a good example of one man’s explanation of why men and women in the armed services do what they do for a living.

This IS a typical, though sad, example of what some who have never served think of the military.

Senator Metzenbaum (speaking to Senator Glenn):
‘How can you run for Senate when you’ve never held a real job?’

Senator Glenn (D-Ohio): ‘I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn’t my checkbook, Howard; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank. I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day . .. to a veteran’s hospital and look those men … with their mangled bodies …. in the eye, and tell THEM they didn’t hold a job!

You go with me to the Space Program at NASA and go, as I have gone, to the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee …. and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their DADS didn’t hold a job.

You go with me on Memorial Day and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery , where I have more friends buried than I’d like to remember, and you watch those waving flags . You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you have the gall to tell ME that those people didn’t have a job? What about Metzenbaum? For those who don’t remember During W.W.II, Howard Metzenbaum was an attorney representing the Communist Party in the USA .

Now he’s a Senator!

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English thank a Veteran.


Here’s the rest of the “Before You Vote” series of posts.

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Litany to Another Pro-Life Saint: Gianna Beretta Molla

Litany of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us

Response: Have mercy on us
God the Father in Heaven.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world.
God the Holy Spirit.
Holy Trinity, one God.

Response: Pray for us
Holy Mary.
St. Michael the Archangel.
St. Joseph.
St. Gianna, filled with love for God.
St. Gianna, filled with love for children.
St. Gianna, filled with love for Our Lady and her Rosary.
St. Gianna, filled with love for the Most Blessed Sacrament.
St. Gianna, who sought the will of God in all things.
St. Gianna, generous with those in need.
St. Gianna, devoted to prayer.
St. Gianna, willing to lay down your life for the sake of the gospel.
St. Gianna, patient in suffering.
St. Gianna, united to Jesus on the Cross.
St. Gianna, called to the vocation of marriage.
St. Gianna, who welcomed children as a blessing.
St. Gianna, physician to the ill.
St. Gianna, faithful daughter of the church.
St. Gianna, witness to the sanctity of human life.

Response: Deliver us Lord through the intercession of St. Gianna
From neglecting God through prayer.
From refusing to see God in the sick and poor.
From callousness to the sufferings of others.
From selfishness.
From a lack of trust in God’s providence.
From blindness to the dignity of the human person.
From denial that human life begins at conception.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

Let us pray.
Lord of life, we thank You for the heroic witness of
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla. You have taught us that
there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life
for others. Saint Gianna did this, not only as she
gave birth to her last child, but also in her everyday
life as she died to herself so that she could live
wholly for You. What selflessness we see in her!
Help us, we pray, that through the intercession of
Saint Gianna, our society may regain a sense of the
sacredness of all human life. Fill us with her spirit
of courage to suffer any struggle rather than deny
You and the sanctity of human life. We ask You
this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your son, who
lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one
God, forever and ever. Amen

(Composed by a priest from Alabama and offered to
the Society of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla)

Nihil Obstat: Rev. Joseph G. Prior,
Censor Librorum

Imprimatur: Justin Cardinal Rigali
Archbishop of Philadelphia
Sept. 29, 2004

More about Saint Gianna

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The Foss’ Newest Blessing Is Here

Praise God. Welcome to the world, Sarah Anne! We join your family in prayers of thanksgiving! God is so good.

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Before You Vote #13: Catholics, Take Heed: Father Corapi’s Eleventh Hour Alerts


Here’s the rest of the “Before You Vote” series of posts.

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